“I’ve never had my own home. I’m very excited about it.. 

I know it’s going to be great.” - RB

This newsletter is dedicated in memory of Gilbert Plourde for his 69 Years of friendship and service at the Iris Network.   He will be remembered for his chair-caning talents and broom-making skills.    Gilbert sold brooms door-to-door throughout the Greater Portland area for 44 years.  He will be missed!

Low Vision Clinic Enters Second

Year of Service, Success

Low Vision Clinic Staff — Sherry MacKinnon, Vice President of Program 

Services, Dr. A. Jan Berlin, Medical Director, and Erin McCall,

 Occupational Therapist and Low Vision Clinic Coordinator

Research indicates that only six percent of people with impaired vision ever receive comprehensive low vision services. This is unfortunate because people who need, but do not receive services, lead lives of excess disability and develop other serious conditions. For example, depression occurs at twice the normal rate among people with low vision. And 18% of hip fractures are caused by vision impairment.

Fortunately, individuals can regain their lives and reduce or avoid many problems by obtaining comprehensive low vision services. The Iris Network is dedicated to helping people achieve these positive outcomes and move forward. For several years, the Iris Network has worked to establish a Low Vision Clinic to provide unique new benefits to patients and also to serve as a powerful new gateway to the Iris Network’s excellent vision rehabilitation therapy.

In May 2005, the Iris Network proudly opened Maine’s only Low Vision Clinic providing comprehensive vision rehabilitation services. The Clinic’s Medical Director and board-certified ophthalmologist, A. Jan Berlin, M.D., previously studied similar operations in New York and Michigan. Currently, the clinic welcomes patients two days per month.

The mark of the Clinic is extraordinary patient care. Each attendee spends approximately 90 minutes with Dr. Berlin and the Occupational Therapist. Dr. Berlin conducts a thorough assessment of vision in each eye and a fine-tuned assessment of the best visual aids for the patient.

After the appointment, follow-up training may be provided by the Occupational Therapist or by a Vision Rehabilitation Therapist with whom the client is already working.  Low vision training helps individuals maximize the use of their remaining vision by showing them how  to use optical aids and equipment, such as magnifiers, to read the newspaper, telescopes to focus on distant signs and light-filtering lenses to reduce glare.

 

“I have seen the difference this Clinic makes in people’s lives,” Dr. Berlin says. “Attending the Low Vision Clinic transforms a person with low vision whose functioning has been greatly reduced and who is often battling despair into someone whose quality of life is returning and who is feeling hope.”

 

Sherry MacKinnon, Vice President of Program Services at the Iris Network and an Occupational Therapist who provided vision rehabilitation therapy follow-up during the Clinic’s first year, agrees.  “Responses to the Clinic are overwhelmingly positive,” she says. “It means so much to people to regain their independence and improve their quality of life.”   

 

In the coming year, the Iris Network seeks to double the Clinic’s hours and help twice as many patients.  We welcomed Erin McCall, Occupational Therapist, to our team as the new Low Vision Clinic Coordinator in May 2006.  If you would like more information on

the Low Vision Clinic, please call the Iris Network at 207-774-6273.

“ Dr. Berlin helped me so much.  He took a couple of hours with me and recommended visual aids that have enabled me to live my life.  I also really benefited from working with Sherry in my home after attending the clinic.  I can’t say enough good things about the Low Vision Clinic".                                                                                                      —Mildred Cushman “ Attending the Low Vision Clinic made me feel much better about myself and my options.  I am very happy to be able to see more with the prescribed devices.  I wasn’t expecting that. I also learned a great deal through vision rehabilitation therapy.  The Low Vision Clinic is excellent.”                                                                        —Connie Filleul